Workers tend to a well head during a hydraulic fracturing operation at an Encana Oil & Gas Inc. gas well outside Rifle, in western Colorado.

Written by

Deborah Barfield Berry
Gannett Washington Bureau

Administration officials began taking public comments Friday on proposed regulations for hydraulic fracturing on public lands.

The Bureau of Land Management released its revised rules last week for hydraulic fracturing - or fracking - on Indian and federal public lands. Fracking refers to a method of extracting natural gas from shale formations.

The proposed rules would, among other things, require that companies disclose chemicals used in fracking after an operation is completed and that the companies have a water management plan. The data would be posted on FracFocus, an online ...